


Avengers Fantasy AU

by mithrel



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Demonic Possession, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-13 06:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2140716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sir Steven is the leader of the Paladin Order of the Shield. When he and his men find a monster destroying the city who turns out to be a man possessed by a demon, he's not quite sure what to do with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zekkass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zekkass/gifts).



> Happy birthday, zekkass, sorry this took so long!

When the frantic man runs into the hall of the Order of the Shield, yelling about a monster in the streets, some are inclined to dismiss it as superstition or hysteria, but Steven takes a few men and follows him nonetheless.

It’s a good thing he did. Within a few feet, Steven can hear the crashes, screams and roaring. They duck down an alley and see a monster, all right. Eight feet tall, green and _massive,_ it’s currently engaged in demolishing a block of shops. As Steven watches, it puts its fist through a stone wall, bellowing like a bull.

“Orders, Captain?” James asks, and he wrenches his attention away from the beast to give instructions to his men.

He sends Timothy and Montgomery around to attempt to flank it, while he and James approach it directly. He doesn’t attempt to charge–he knows how foolish that would be. Instead they approach cautiously, weapons out but down. The hulking thing takes no notice of them.

Steven gives the signal and they all attack at once. The thing whirls on Timothy and backhands him, sending him flying through the wall of a privy.

Steven can’t keep track of his men for the next few minutes, he’s too busy ducking, dodging and trying to slice at the beast. His broadsword has no effect other than to make it angry.

The only thing that saves them is that the prince of the neighboring kingdom of Asgard is visiting. Prince Thor was very strong, but he also possessed a magical hammer, infinitely light in the hand, but infinitely heavy to what it hit. It also gave him the power of flight.

There’s thunder overhead and they all look up, including the monster. Thor comes down like a catapult and smites the beast to the ground.

Thor holds out a hand to Steven, where he’s been knocked to the ground, and he somewhat sheepishly takes it. “Prince Thor. Thank you for your assistance.”

Thor gives him a manic grin. “Think nothing of it, shieldbrother! But what is yonder creature?”

Steven looks at the beast again. To his amazement, the thing shrinks, the muscles disappearing and leaving a naked man in its place.

“See to your men,” Thor says. “I will attempt to fathom this.”

Steven quickly checks on everyone. James has a bloody gash on his forehead, and Timothy is bruised (and stinking) but none of them are seriously hurt.

Meanwhile, Thor has picked up the unconscious man. “Where shall I take him, shieldbrother?”

Steven shakes his head. “To the Order,” he replies after a moment, and leads the way.

***

The man is in the wine cellar, in a circle of blessed herbs and holy water, with holy water also sprinkled on the stairs. They’ve also chained him to the wall, and put shackles on his ankles, wrists and neck. Steven is ill-at-ease, remembering how the monster had demolished stone and metal, but there’s nothing more he can do to keep it caged.

As the leader of the Order, he’s notified the moment the man wakes. He heads cautiously down to the cellar, not sure what he’ll find.

The man is sitting up, blinking, dressed in a borrowed tunic and breeches. He blinks warily at Steven.

Steven holds up his hands, intent on placating this man-who-was-a-monster. “I’m Steven. You’re safe here.”

“Where am I?” The man speaks for the first time.

"In the cellar of the Order of the Shield," Steven replies.

"The paladins..." the man murmurs as if to himself, and slumps forward.

"Yes," Steven replies, then, "What's your name?"

"My name..." the man trails off for a moment, then seems to shake himself out of whatever trance he's in. "My name is Bruce."

"All right, Bruce," Steven says equably. "Do you remember what happened before you got here?"

A low moan and Bruce burying his face in his hands provides all the answer Steven needs. He gives him a moment, then prompts. "What happened to you?"

Bruce laughs bitterly. "I was a fool!"

Steven waits patiently for him to go on.

"My parents promised me to a holy order when I was a child," Bruce says. "When I reached manhood, the Brotherhood of Righteousness accepted me as an acolyte. The Brotherhood's mission is to save corrupted souls. To be accepted as a full member, a monk needs to prove that he has redeemed someone who had fallen.”

Steven nods. “It’s a noble mission.”

Bruce snorts. “Oh, ‘noble,’ I grant you, and if I’d been like all the other acolytes and set my sights on a cutpurse or a forger, or even a murderer…but I was proud, and I paid the price.”

“What did you do?” Steven asks, fascinated in spite of himself.

“I tried to reform a demon,” Bruce whispers, as Steven feels the temperature in the room drop. “I set up a ritual to summon one…a minor one, I wasn’t _that_ foolhardy…but of course it overcame me and…” he stops, breathing hard.

“And possessed you,” Steven completes softly.

Bruce nods, mute, eyes staring at something Steven can’t see.

“But it seems to be banished now–”

“No!” Bruce cuts him off, his voice almost a shriek. “He’s still here, only the circle is keeping him at bay!”

Steven holds up his hands soothingly. “Perhaps we can perform an exorcism.”

Bruce shakes his head, no longer listening to anything Steven is saying. “It won’t work, it’s my fault, you should just kill me now…”

But Steven has no intention of killing anyone, if he can avoid it, so he leaves Bruce to his mumblings and begins gathering up what he’ll need.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They try an exorcism to get rid of the demon, and Steven meets a strange man.

The exorcism doesn’t work.

They’d brought candles, crosses and holy water into the basement, and Steven read passages from the Bible.

The moment they started, Bruce began to groan, which Steven took as a good sign. But a moment later he screamed, “No, stop it before–!” and all hell broke loose, not quite literally.

A wash of green spread over Bruce’s skin, his face set in a snarl and he swelled out of his clothes, breaking the collar and pulling the chains out of the walls. Steven stepped back involuntarily, swearing.

The demon reached towards them, but luckily it didn’t seem able to get through the protections they’d laid down. When he saw that the beast was contained, he motioned to James to put down another circle of holy water and herbs outside the first.

He did, staying six feet away from the previous circle (a sensible precaution, since, barrier or not, the thing’s arms were _long._ )

They continued after that, going through the full rite, but all it did was make the thing rage more. Finally, Steven dismissed his men, and sat down to wait for Bruce to turn back.

***

“You have to kill me,” is the first thing he says when he wakes up. “Do it now, before I can hurt anyone else!”

“I’m not killing anyone,” Steven snaps back. “Besides, what makes you think it would let me?”

That gives Bruce pause, but he doesn’t look any less miserable.

“There has to be another solution,” Steven says, although he’s not too confident.

***

He’s walking the streets, looking for inspiration, when there’s a _bang_ and a puff of smoke from a nearby shop.

 _What_ now?! he thinks, sprinting for the door, his sword out.

The interior is full of acrid black smoke. Steven squints, trying to see through it, when he hears a cough and a somewhat aggravated voice.

“Well… _that_ didn’t work out the way I’d hoped!”

The smoke is clearing a bit now, and Steven can see a figure hunched in what looks like the back of a workshop. “Um, hello? Do you need any help?”

“What? No! I was just testing this new way of tempering metal to make it stronger, really would be an asset to the military. Should’ve worked, don’t know why it caught fire and melted, didn’t mean to involve any innocent bystanders…”

It seems like the voice will go on indefinitely if given the chance, so Steven cuts it off. “Who are you?”

The figure steps forward, and Steven can see it’s a man with dark hair, wearing a leather apron. “Anthony du Starque. I’m a blacksmith in service to the king.”

“…Blacksmith?” Steven manages. The leather apron would fit that, but he can see all kinds of whirring gizmos and contraptions around him that don’t seem to be connected to anything involving weapons or armor.

“Yes! Well…I dabble in alchemy too, and some engineering…” He trails off, attempting to scrape the molten mess off his anvil.

“And…what’s all this?” Steven asks, pointing to one of the whirring things that’s moving back and forth on a shelf and puffing steam. It’s cleared a space in the dust that covers everything else.

“Oh, don’t mind him,” Anthony says, waving his hand.

Steven blinks. “…Him?”

“Yeah, I built him to fetch and carry things, but he’s useless, never listens to me.”

“Alriiiight,” Steven says after a long moment. The man is clearly mad. He’d mentioned alchemy…Steven wonders about quicksilver fumes. At the same time, he certainly has things here that Steven’s never seen before, and if he’s in service to the king, he must be good. King Nicholas doesn’t employ anyone but the best, and he’s fierce in handling thwarted expectations. They don’t call him “The Furious” for nothing.

This man might just be able to come up with a solution to his problem.

“Tell me,” he says. “Do you know anything about demons?”


End file.
